Bush Vows Zero Tolerance For Iraq

Arab League Ministers Say Saddam Is Likely To Accept Un Resolution

WASHINGTON — Bush administration officials vowed Sunday they would have "zero tolerance" if Saddam Hussein tries to evade new United Nations demands, warning that war would be the swift result.

Also Sunday, Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo indicated that Iraq is likely to accept the UN resolution giving arms inspectors unrestricted access and demanding that Hussein destroy weapons of mass destruction.

As the clock began ticking toward Friday's first key deadline set by the UN Security Council's Iraq resolution -- by which time Baghdad must accept the terms of the resolution and promise to cooperate with inspectors -- the White House used the Sunday television news programs to put the Iraqi dictator on notice.

"If I were Saddam Hussein, I would take it with a great deal of concern and seriousness and understand that this is not some idle threat that has been issued by the United States," Secretary of State Colin Powell said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"This is not some resolution to be ignored, as he's ignored all previous resolutions."

"If we have to go to war, we will," warned White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card on NBC's "Meet the Press."

In Baghdad, officials announced that the Iraqi parliament would meet today to consider Iraq's response to the UN resolution.

White House national security adviser Condoleezza Rice derided the session as "ludicrous" and little more than a ruse by Hussein, who wields absolute power.

"Saddam Hussein is an absolute dictator and tyrant, and the idea that somehow he expects the Iraqi parliament to debate this -- they've never debated anything else," Rice said on ABC's "This Week." "I'm surprised he's even bothering to go through this ploy."

Rice added that the Iraqis "do not have the right to accept or reject this resolution," but must simply acknowledge it and then proceed to disclose all of their nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.

"We have to have a zero-tolerance view of the Iraqi regime this time," Rice said. "The next material breach by Saddam Hussein has got to have serious consequences. I think it's pretty clear what that may mean."

The diplomats from the 22-member Arab League called on the UN to include Arab inspectors on its team and insisted in a communique that the inspections process not be used as a pretext to launch "automatic military action" against Iraq.

The Security Council resolution, approved unanimously Friday after two months of arduous negotiations, requires Iraq to disclose its weapons programs by Dec. 8 and to fully cooperate with UN inspectors, who are to complete their work by Feb. 21.

If Iraq balks at any time during the process, resulting in a "material breach" of its obligations, the Security Council is to convene immediately to consider its next steps.

But Powell, Rice and Card all stressed that President Bush, while he would prefer UN backing in any military action against Iraq, is not bound to await the Security Council's agreement before deciding to use force.

"We have the authority by the president's desire to protect and defend the United States of America," Card said.

"The UN can meet and discuss, but we don't need their permission."

Added Powell: "If we find that debate is going nowhere, if the UN chooses not to act, we have not given up our authority to act with like-minded nations who might wish to join us in such an action."

Scrutiny of Iraq's compliance throughout the inspections process will be intense, Powell said.

"We're not going to wait till February to see whether Iraq is cooperating or not," he said.

Moreover, Rice said, the new inspections will differ markedly from previous UN efforts during the 1990s, which were repeatedly frustrated by Hussein's refusal to cooperate.

According to the strict terms of the Security Council resolution, the burden this time is on Iraq to reveal its prohibited weapons programs, not on UN inspectors to try to find them.

"The inspectors are not going to go hunting and pecking through a country the size of France," Rice said.

Nevertheless, she added, she remains "very skeptical" that Hussein will fully comply with the process.

Administration officials revealed over the weekend that Bush has approved a war plan for attacking Iraq that could involve 250,000 U.S. troops and a phased approach to capturing footholds in the north, south and west of the country before squeezing the capital, Baghdad.

None of the administration officials interviewed Sunday would discuss the military plans, and Bush ignored a question about them when he returned to the White House from his Camp David retreat.

But Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Bush's father, warned what the result of those military plans would be, and he urged Iraq's generals not to stand by Hussein.

"If military action comes, the outcome is certain," Powell said.

"The regime will be defeated, and these generals had better make a judgment as to which side of the wall they want to be on when it's all over."